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Marathon help
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Hi All
Looking for some advice here. I have been training consistently since May for the Dublin City Marathon and all has gone well or at least had until the last two LSRs. I have consistently upped the mileage while following the Asics plan and have no issues at 13, 15 or 17 miles. But last week and this week I had planned to do 20 miles.
In both of these at 18 miles I have tanked. I assume this was the dreaded wall. Legs go to jelly and had to walk/run the last bit. On Sunday I was in a 3/4 Marathon when I got to the final hills. I had been feeling very good and running at a nice 6:25/km (10:20/mile) pace.
For these LSRs I was doing a pace of 6:20 - 6:30/Km. My aim initially was a 4:15 pace on marathon day. But the doubts are now setting over where to aim on the day.
During training I have not used gels. I have relied on glucose tabs and a mix of honey/ salt in water. As I say, this plan worked fine all the way until beyond 18 miles.
So based on this, what should I do in 3 weeks time? Use gels and keep 4:15 or 4:20 in mind.
Just for reference the 5 miles this year was 40:50, 10 miles was 85 mins and the half was 1:58 (tough day!).
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Comments
On race day you are on tapered and fresh legs.
How many glucose tabs are you taking - maybe its not enough.
Sorry. By 4:15, this is total time. Not pace.
Re the Gluscose tabs, I was taking 1 every 5 kms. So rough 30 mins a part.
You are running your long runs just 10 to 15 mins slower than you want to race the marathon at.
It's too fast. And your plan has you running 2 x 20 miles on consecutive weekends ?
I prefer to have 2 weeks in between long runs to make sure I'm recovered.
Ok, thanks for that.
Based on where I'm at now, what time would you recommend that I aim for?
Also, is it too late to test gels?
Based on how close you are to the event I would just follow your plan which should have you tapering your training. You could try taking a gel on your next run and see how you get on but don't try anything new on the day. If this is your first marathon just start off really slow, dont worry about your finishing time and enjoy the day.